Since nobody wants to take this poor baby, I decided to take this anime. At least, for the FI. I’m curious whether this will be a replica of Yu-Gi-Oh or not.

It turned out that this anime has nothing to do with Yu-Gi-Oh or any other card game. Yes, this means that nobody here takes out a deck of cards and summon monsters from it. Instead, the characters only have one card to capture and control the creature from one of the Worlds. To make long story short, weird black holes appeared all over the world, and from these worlds, strange creatures began attacking the humans. There are five worlds, and from each world comes different kind of creatures – white world for celestial beings, black world for demons, green world for green (plant creatures), blue world or mecha and related things like that. Well, the whole setting is pretty interesting to me, and it seems that it has some kind of potential to create something deep. At least, I’m glad the setting and the system has nothing to do with card games.

What about the cards the characters posses? They’re actually cards to capture the creatures and control them, and only soldiers can have those. So yeah, about five teenagers having those cards… It’s a strange story, really, but only Asuka’s story is shown. He’s supposed to be a laid-back character who is frugal as hell yada yada until he meets this weird loli shrine maiden that gives him the card, telling him to save the world and so on. It’s a typical way for main characters to gain their powers. How he acquired his monster, the celestial being Fierte, is pretty silly too. Asuka catches the angel falling from the sky, and some random chick named Ayase appears out of nowhere with her demon, telling Asuka to hand over the injured angel.

Andddd will Asuka give the angel? *drum rolls* It’s not revealed yet actually, since Asuka’s story starts in the later half of the episode. Yep, the anime starts with Mikado’s invasion of Kobe with his creature Alexander, and Asuka with Ayase and a loli named Azumi try to stop Mikado. It seems that they’re doing the episode just like Magi’s first episode where they show the climax first then shifts to the beginning of the story. Ah well, having the similar style as Magi‘s first episode is fine, but will this anime be as good as Magi, we’ll see.

Zooming out + tree: perfect combination to reduce the budget on fighting scenes

Z*giggle*X

I said that this anime turned out to be interesting, and I really mean it. I did not expect this anime to be this decent. The story is the one that caught me off-guard, since it has nothing to do with cards. You’d guess that it’s only about a bunch of teenagers fighting some kind of tournament like Gundam Build Fighters and Beyblade, but it turned out that Yamaguchi Yuuji the director took the setting seriously and exploits it to the max. Which, I say, he did a good job at since I bet most of the audience didn’t expect the story to be this serious and non-card-related. And it seems that the director likes to play with timeline too, seeing how he shifts back and forth from flashback to the present in this episode (by the way, I see that many complained about this part of the anime, which is weird since Magi the first episode has the same format and yet everybody went all “yeaahhh!!!!” for it. Hmmmmm).

None of the characters are fully delved except Asuka, but I already like Asuka that many people hate. I don’t know what to hate, really. He seems frugal by considering his job and saving his city to be important to him, but I can see why since his mother is sick and he has no expense for entertainment whatsoever since the money goes to his mother’s hospitalization. Many also complained about his fear of height when his angel carries him while flying, but I think anime characters have the right to not overcome their fears in a snap. Despite the complains from others, I see Asuka as a perfectly healthy teenager (with acrophobia) that acts like a real teenager. Not emo, not angsty, just a teenager who has a part-time job to earn extra cash. What’s wrong with that kind of character? He’s definitely refreshing, and I like him like that.

As it can be seen, I actually like this anime. The only thing that disappoints me from this anime is the animation and the crappy fighting scenes that are anti-climatic. Oh well, nothing is perfect. This post might seem like my defense of this anime, and it is. I see many not liking it and dropping it for the silliest things (which, strangely, also happen in many anime), but I see it as a decent anime with potential to develop. Unfortunately, I won’t blog this since I have too much in my hands already. Not blogging it won’t stop me from watching this anime though.

To me, this series, looking at the start, seems closer to Devil Survivor 2 than Yu-Gi-Oh! Especially when you consider the fact the world is being taken over and destroyed by a bunch of otherworldly monsters and a handful of humans can actually have control over some of them.

It is interesting anyway. Not perfect but acceptable and Asuka is alright by me in spite of playing the “I’m going to be a hero” card without fully understanding what and who he’s up against so this is a show I’m going to keep watching.

I’m just wondering, am I the only one whose first impression when checking out the previews is more on the lines of Shin Megami Tensei instead of lolcardgames?

Hands down, this is one of the best introduction episode of the season. The whole thing just made me more excited as I watch it and now I can’t wait for the next episode. Granted, the art/animation is not perfect but it does it job well enough. The OP pretty good too.

I enjoyed listening to Hiro Shimono as Asuka and I’m claiming Chitose as mine XD The anime did a good job at making some of the cards/character artwork looking better in anime form especially Fierte/Blue Girl/Mikado design. Also, why is Alexander the Great is wearing a chinese armor?

In conclusion, Z/X live up to my expectation and I will be following it.

@anaaga I’m surprised at just how easily ppl can drop a show over some pretty minor/silly/petty issue -_-

Hmmm, I drop shows all the time over minor issues. I originally dropped K because I couldn’t stop :facedesking because of the skateboard scenes. It’s a good thing I picked it back up later based on blog reviews, because it ended up being pretty enjoyable. Hmm, maybe that wasn’t a good example for my case >.>

I don’t mind people dropping anime over the things they don’t like. But when they approve on such scenes on certain anime and insult other anime on the same minor issues, that’s when I have problems.

e.g. The timeline for this episode follows Magi Second Season‘s format (showing climax/battle first then shifts to the beginning), and many point that aspect of this anime as a flaw. But many cheered for Magi

There is a difference between finding faults because the faults are actually there and finding faults just to hate the anime

I haven’t watched Nisekoi. I kinda want to avoid the author’s works right now because I just want to burn my stuff every time I read Kimi no Iru Machi or whatever it is. I’ll probably watch it when it’s done.

But when they approve on such scenes on certain anime and insult other anime on the same minor issues, that’s when I have problems.

I can name a certain “most trusted news source” that applies that hypocritical policy, but you all can guess the name.

“Judge the show by itself, not by who makes it” is a fairly decent policy I follow. Speaking of faults, apparently the “under-rated full CG anime” that had people say “oh no! 3DCG sux” last season is actually selling BDs quite well.

I can name a certain “most trusted news source” that applies that hypocritical policy, but you all can guess the name.

Heh, you got it. Can’t help it, I’m so angry every time I go to that place now.

“Judge the show by itself, not by who makes it” is a fairly decent policy I follow. Speaking of faults, apparently the “under-rated full CG anime” that had people say “oh no! 3DCG sux” last season is actually selling BDs quite well.

It was such a gooooodddd animeeeee I totally love it and I hope there’s season two

Personally I’m confused still, are all the people with summons outsiders? Green, blue, white, etc.? I get the impression that the people originally living on the world almost got wiped out, and now outsiders roam throughout the world.

I was expecting this to be a card-battle anime though… this would have been my first card-battle anime! Oh well, maybe I’ll leave that dubious achievement for another day.

1 short of a gazillion. Otherwise this would have been G/X Ignition – Gazillion of enemy X.

Asuka mentioned that the summon/capture devices are usually given to police and armies. Maybe all the main cast aside frm Asuka have some powerful position? For example, Chitose is an ex-JSDF member frm her character profile and then there Mikado.

Hm I dislike the word “trope” (and the meaning behind it), so I usually zone out the second I see “trope”.

I don’t know where this was pulled from, but the preview from RC says:Show ▼

the series takes place in a world where five portals suddenly appear in the near future. Known as “Black Points,” they are doors to parallel worlds of various timelines. To ensure their own world’s survival, each world deploys an array of strange creatures in order to destroy the others.

So I took that to mean each duo is from a different world going for sekai seifuku. Or maybe I’m reading into it too much.

Actually I find the whole card-game premise to be really silly so I’ve never bothered to watch Beyblade or Yugioh. It would take a lot for me to pick up an older show as I’ve pretty much watched most of the already aired series (or have it on backlog) that I would want to watch. Unless if there’s a hidden gem that I somehow missed or neglected to try. Someone here encouraged me to try Natsume Yuujinchou, so I still have the first two episodes on backlog. Haven’t touched it yet, because I have a feeling if I like it I’m going to marathon through three seasons (I’m a little afraid to take the leap).

Never rely on preview blurbs exclusively, especially from a single source. Diversify your information sources, briefly investigate the original material if it exists. A good suggestion that I use is aroduc’s seasonal previews – Extremely sarcastic to the point where lowers expectations.

and *kicks* spamcatcher again. Something in my style of postings it does not like.

Oh, you don’t like tropes? How about seeing them as formula? Because the whole Humanity Will Survive is actually a formula that many work of art, from books to anime, use a lot. It’s overused, actually. But many still love it anyway.

Ah, with that kind of perspective, it’s hard to enjoy card-game anime. I guess those kind of anime is for those who prefer magical battles that do no use complex formula etc (though the whole summoning-monsters-from-cards-aspect is already complex). At least, I enjoy card-game anime because of the battles that are fun and the story that actually progress slowly. I don’t watch them much now, since I have too many anime to watch already. But if you enjoy fighting scenes and magical battles, you should try card-game anime.

You should Natsume when you have time to marathon because yes, you’ll keep wanting for more. Heh